Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada supports Peru’s decision not to allow the president of Venezuela to attend the upcoming Summit of the Americas.

“As Venezuela slides deeper into dictatorship, and as Venezuelans continue to suffer, Maduro’s participation at a hemispheric leaders’ summit would have been farcical,” said Freeland in a statement issued Wednesday morning.

Peru is hosting this year’s Summit of the Americas, a regional policy gathering, which will take place in Lima in April.

Peru’s Foreign Minister Cayetana Aljovin said Tuesday that Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro’s “presence will no longer be welcome.”

The move comes amidst increasing tension between Colombia and Venezuela, and as Veneuzuela’s economic and humanitarian crisis worsens.

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos said Tuesday that his country requires international aid to help with the humanitarian crisis in Colombia caused by hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans fleeing over the border.

“Canada fully supports the announcement by Peru, as host of the upcoming Summit of the Americas, that Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, is not welcome to attend,” Freeland said.

“President Maduro has demonstrated a flagrant disregard for democracy, a cornerstone of the Quebec Declaration signed by Venezuela in 2001. His regime is committing human rights abuses and refusing to allow much-needed humanitarian aid for the people of Venezuela,” said Freelend.

The Summit of the Americas is focused on strengthening democracy and improving the lives of people across the hemisphere, Maduro has shown no commitment to these shared regional objectives, said Freeland.

“I reiterate Canada’s full agreement with the Lima Group declaration issued yesterday. We maintain our demand that presidential elections be called with sufficient advance notice, that international observers participate, and that all Venezuelan political players be included in the election. With these conditions unmet, Venezuela’s elections will lack any legitimacy or credibility.”

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As long as we are supporting an obvious fascist regime in the Ukraine, we won’t look credible doing anything…whether one agrees or not. We can’t support what is going on in the Ukraine but criticize what is happening in Venezuela…we’re the country that sold weapons to Saudi Arabia, had to discourage sales to the Philippines, support what is going on in the States and then say we believe in democracy. Our actions are speaking louder than our words, so we don’t.

Thanks Canada. Minister Chrystia Freeland has maintained a position of defense of the human rights and democracy in the Americas. This should make Canadians very proud, especially those of Venezuelan and Latin American origin